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Unraveling the Gabela case
Posted On 16 Aug 2018
Ecuadornews:
Loose ends and some certainties. After the appearances of the ex-president Rafael Correa and the expert Roberto Meza before the commission of the Assembly that investigates the murder of the former commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE), Jorge Gabela, he began the process of making some conclusions clean.
That Meza gave three reports, and not two, is a certainty that has the majority of the assembly members that make up this special group. It is also not in doubt that the last product is lost, although the responsible and the reasons for this loss are still a mystery.
In his speech on Tuesday, the expert said that already in the second report it was said that Gabela’s crime was not the product of common crime and that everything points to the fact that it was related to the general’s opposition to the purchase of Indian helicopters. Dhruv
The Assemblywoman for CREO, Jeaninne Cruz, who is part of the commission, told EXPRESO yesterday that there is no doubt that the members of the Interinstitutional Committee formed by Correa to investigate the case met, at a meeting on November 18, 2013, even the names of the alleged killers of Gabela.
Another thing that was left sitting is that the State did not provide security to the high command of the FAE, despite having publicly denounced that it was the victim of constant threats. This was confirmed by Correa himself, who told the assembly members that it was not the job of the Presidency to demand such protection and that it was Gabela who had to ask the police or the military.
What is not clear is why, although the expert opinion concluded that it was not common criminals who killed the soldier, in the final summary that was presented to the former president, the ministers that make up the Interinstitutional Committee insist that it is a crime case common.
Sebastian Palacios, Assemblyman of SUMA, wonders what other elements or information had the officials to leave aside the report of the expert Meza, “or decided to act as experts on their own to hide something. All that should investigate the Office of the Prosecutor, “he told this newspaper.
One of the mechanisms to confirm that all this happened would be to attend the minutes and the audios of the meetings that the Government Committee held. According to Meza, everything was recorded, however, those files are also lost, it was known on Tuesday in the Assembly.
There are also doubts because the former president did not make public the conclusions reached by his Committee, despite the fact that the decree that he himself signed thus establishes it. According to Correa, “what more public could be done if the document was sent to the Office of the Prosecutor, Comptroller, Assembly and the family of General Gabela,” he said.
In this regard, the Comptroller General said yesterday that he had received the so-called “Third Report” from the previous government, nor within the special examination carried out for hiring the consultancy to investigate the death of Gabela, “nor after the elaboration of the corresponding report “.
Conclusions
The occasional Commission of the Assembly plans to have a preliminary report of the investigation ready until August 29.
Definitive
The deadline for issuing the final report is October 12. The Assembly hopes to have it before.
Dates
The expert Meza was open to redoing the third report. He asked that dates be established to return.
Projection
According to Assemblywoman Cruz, as things are going, everything would point to a state crime.
Identities
The expert Meza said that in the third report there were even some names of officials. (I)
